St. Landry democrat., 1887-04-30
AN AWFUL FIGHT.
A Combat Between a Tiger and a
Lion.

After an encampment of two weeks
at BangalOre, we moved to the north
west for thirty miles, and made a new
camp on Il creek which emptied into
the Canvery river, twenty miles below
Us. There had been no shooting done
in this ncighborhood for many years,
for the reason that a fever plague had
carried off hundreds of the natives and
depopulatcd many of the villages.
Game had had an opportunity to in
crease, and we had reason to look for
ward to some exciting sport. A native
hunter. living near Seringapatam, and
who was with us in charge of the serv-
ants. had been told by good authority
that lions and tigers had come into the
abandoned district until they were as
plentiful as hares. and that we should
lind hunters paradise.
We pitched our camp on cleared
spot on the right bank of the creek,
which had two feet of water in it and
was about ten feet wide. 1t was a
hilly country all about us. with the
ground fairly well timbered Half a
mile below us was an abandoned native
village, and many acres of ground
which had once been titled were now
grown up to bush and weeds. We went
into camp about an hour before sun
down of a summers day, and the tents
had not yet been pitched when one of
the natives routed out and killed
poisonous snake ten feet long, and an
other declared that he saw a panther
moving in the thickct across the creek.
We cut down the smaller trees and
bushes and built strong Enclosure for
the riding horses and pack animals, and
then ran a breastwork of brush clear
around camp. A lion or tiger could clear
it at bound, but neither beast ever
enters an Enclosure off hand. He must
be pressed by hunger, or desperate
with rage. 1t had just come to be twi-
light, and we were still working at the
north side Of the Enclosure, when the
fact that we had big game at hand was
proved in sorTowful way. A native
young man about seventeen Years of
age, who was one of the brush cutters,
was engaged with others about 800 feet
from where we were at work. 1t was
the last load to be brought, and he was
last Of all. He was picking up his load
when tiger sprang upon him from the
bushes. Every one of us heard the
snarl of the beast and the cry of the
man, and, indeed, there was the whole
scene right before our eyes. The vic
tim, as he was hurled to the earth, fell
upon his face. The tiger seemed to
turn him over three or four times, and
then seized him by the shoulder and
started off with him-not into the
thicket right at hand, but across 200
feet of perfectly open ground toward
the creek.
For few seconds all of us seemed
turned to stone. Then there was
rush for the rifles, which were FORUM
nately near at hand. There were three
or four old soldiers and tiger hunters
with US, and their presence of mind
brought about the death of the beast.
Some of us would have hesitated to
fire, knowinr that our bullets would
be as apt to hit the servant as the tiger,
but two or three men shouted for every
body to blaze away, and five or six re-
ports followed one another in quick
succession. These men reasoned that
the native was already mortally hurt,
and that it would be better for him to
die at once by one of our bullets than
to be carried off and eaten alive. I
have personally known of four OF five
cases where men have been seized by
tigers, and / have talked with hunters
who knew of many other cases, and
there was only single instance where
the victim escaped the fatality of the
spring. When the tiger leaps he also
strikes with his forepaw, and the blow
is terrific.
The beast and his burden We're
about half way across the open
when they fell in heap; the tiger
was up again in a second, whirled
around like a top, and then. with a
fierce growI, he seized the native again
with his teeth and resumed his progress.
We were advancing as we fired, but the
TIGER did not increase his pace by a